From RhysH - Abyssal Dwarfs and Taun Taun Riders

 This week Rhys was working on cavalry for two different games. His first entry is Abyssal Dwarf Halfbreeds from Mantic Games for Kings of War.

Five devastating cavalry for your fantasy table tops.

Next up is four more. Rhys tried to slide a half painted one past me but I pulled it out, so expect to see it next week. 

These tiger striped halfbreeds can either fill out the first unit or be a second unit.

Last up is three Taun taun riders for the Rebels in Star Wars Legion. These are 3D prints from Squamous miniatures, who I can't recommend highly enough.

These come in units of two. He has three more to paint to finish them all up.

This week is a total of 12 x 28mm Cavalry x 10pts = 120pts

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Good Morning Rhys

Great looking Taun Taun riders ... they would have been right at home in Saskatchewan last week! Surviving -50C is only for the very appropriatly dressed!

Terrific colour choices on the tiger striped Half Breeds. I'm looking forward to what we see on your next post :)

- Sarah

From AaronH - 34 Star Wars Legion B2 Battle Droids (170 points)

 This week's entry is 34 B2 Battle Droids from Atomic Mass Games for Star Wars Legion. These are 32mm sculpts, and these are all 3D prints. The B2s have been out of print for several months so the only way to have any at the moment is printing.

AMG released version 2 of the game last summer, though they call it version 2.6. It brought significant changes to the game. I am a big fan of the new version, though thoughts are decidedly mixed on that front across the community. I, however, have not had a bad game with the new rules and I definitely had games that were lost as soon as we set up in the old version.

One of the big changes in this version is that they added squad upgrades to core units. Core units are the tax unit, you are required to take 3 and can have up to 6 (or 8 in one of the droid lists). It used to be that you had a core size, 3 in the case of B2s, and could add a heavy weapon and one additional model. Now the B2s can add 4 B2s instead of 1. This means squads could be up to 8 models max instead of 5. Other units can go up to 10 or even 14 models in the case of B1s. They also raised the army size from 800 to 1000. This change seems to be much more popular as it lets us put more of our toys on the table.

As a result of these changes I've been adding bog standard models to all of my core across my armies. Last year I painted up two units of B2s (here). I needed to add three more models to each of those to make them capable of being maxed out.

Three bog standard B2s for Red and Blue squads.

Full Blue squad with the three new members in front.

Full Red squad. New 3D prints in front.

Next up will be four squads of seven each. I went with seven because I need to print a few more and you can't actually take six fully upgraded squads in an army, so I can always drag an extra from one squad into each of the others for now.

Purple squad. A lot of these prints have bases with terrain molded on.

Silver droid butts. Some of these prints are themed for mountain warfare and have extra gribblies on them.

Baby Blue squad.

Orange squad.

Green squad. This heavy weapon is different than the rest. There are two options but I, honestly, don't care so if there's a special weapon in the squad it's whatever upgrade is on the card. This one looks cool though.

Close up of the unit leader. He has gold around the colored section. It shows up better without the glare from the photo lights. You can see the large special weapon here. I painted them with color shifting paints and they vary between this purple and a sort of green depending on what angle you view them from.

All of the models painted for this week.

My entire B2 collection with the previously painted squads in the back.

34 32mm models x 7pts each = 238  points.

 

Sylvain: Wow, this is truly an unstoppable tide of metal, all shiny and well coordinated. I like your Tatooine bases, very evocative of the Star Wars universe, as well as your coding. I'm sure players won't be able to stop their urge to say "pew pew" when engaged in combat. Excellent paint job!

 

Regarding your points, the rules of the Challenge do not have a specific category for 32mm, so I will count them as 28mm (rather than 40mm) at 5 points each. 170 is still a nice bunch of points.

 

 

 

 

From DaveV - Jedi Master Luke - Fantasy (27 points)

The best laid plans and all that. 

This year has been challenging for painting so far. My wife Jen had a kitchen accident involving boiling water (she is recovering very well, but there were some scary moments at the hospital and follow-up visits). 

My IDOLS of Torment project was derailed. I was just about finished my Flayed Man, and was dry-brushing a horrifying ballerina with blades on her feet and hands when she snapped off her base, fell and shattered most of her right fingers. I will be having 18 models re-printed using a more flexible resin.   

Plus, work has been very busy. 

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It has been great to at least view everyone's cool models.

I did receive last week a new Star Wars model designed by Felipe Manivel of War Bear, and printed by Wargames3D in Spain. I figured, what the hell, and assembled, primed, zenithal highlighted, and painted this figure over the last couple of days.

I replaced the resin saber blade with brass wire. Otherwise the figure is stock.

It's a great design, with Luke raising rocks with the Force, ready to hurl at some hapless Imperial Remnant baddie. Luke is wearing his black Goth look, so I just needed to highlight the various black textures and tones - I don't shade black. 

The lightsaber was hand painted white and airbrushed Golden Fluorescent Green. Luke's head and the rocks got zenithal highlights. A quick sketch in acrylics, and I then finished his face in tube oils. Everything else was basically thin acrylic glazes, with some oils for detailing. Tamiya clear flat spray completed the figure.

 

It's a ~40mm figure. Star Wars is a space fantasy, not sci-fi, so 27 points for this last minute entry.

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Really lovely work on Luke, Dave. The sculpt looks to be a sturdy interpretation of him, which I quite like (though at some angles it seems like he's wearing BOG boots). Your work on his lightsaber and face is fantastic - so smooth. Well done!

- Curt

From AaronH - Star Wars Legion and final post (83 pts)

 Today's post is more CIS for Star Wars Legion. My youngest son is interested in playing Legion and he has chosen CIS. These models represent the final models to be painted for his first army list. With these completed he can show up for his first game with a fully painted army.

Ten models to complete an army.

This  is two more B2s to fill out the units to five each, a Dwarf Spider droid with all weapon options, a unit of Magnaguards and Cad Bane.

Magnaguards

The Magnaguards are a great unit in the game. they can only be brought in units of four but they are versatile, have two wounds and like to melee with force users.

The lightning on their staves was trickier than I expected but came out OK in the end.

The two B2s are the same as the last two units, just filling them out.

The Dwarf Spider droid is a great model in game. It's a vehicle so it blocks line of sight. It can take a variety of weapons and AI options, and it can explode when it gets near death and deal damage to all units within range 1 of it.

It looks like it  might be fiddly to build but it is actually really easy. Much easier than B1s.

This model is also nice because you can leave it's dome un-glued and switch out the weapons. Everything is tight enough to stay together until you want to switch it out.

All weapon options. Flamer, ion cannon and laser cannon.

The flamer is my favorite looking weapon option.

The final model is Cad Bane, the infamous bounty hunter. He's a powerful and tricksy operative who can wreck havoc if you're not careful.

This is my last entry for this year's challenge. I'm heading to the UK for work, and Rhys will be following next week for a week's vacation. I'd like to thank everyone for how welcoming you have been to him. It has meant the world to him for me to read your comments on his posts. I feel like his painting has improved as he takes in your advice. Your kindness has been remarkable.

That's ten models for the week, nine foot and 1 vehicle.

9 x 32mm x 7 pts = 63 pts

1 x 32mm Vehicle x 20 pts (it's small) = 20 pts

Total = 83 pts

Nice work here Aaron, I feel like you've personally accounted for a moderate-size hobby store's worth of Star Wars Legion stuff. It was great to have you in the Challenge and these droids look great, I especially like the Dwarf Spider Droid. Cad Bane is a polarizing character but you've done him justice here with a nice paint job. Safe travels to the UK and thanks to you and Rhys for participating this year!

Dallas 

Rhunt - Star Wars Legion and High Elves ( 92 pts)

 This week is more Star Wars Legion and also some more Oathmark Elves.

A command pack and two 3D prints for the Hostage Exchange.

This first one is four upgrades for the rebels. The comms tech is missing her arm but I painted her anyway.

Back shot

I need the comms tech and sometimes the captain. I've never used the med-droid or the repair-droid, but I might some day.

These two are 3D prints that I'll use for the hostage exchange scenario. 

Next up are ten more Oathmark Elves. I did these as sword and board.

Ten more of my Northstar Oathmark Elves. The box had 30 of them.

I still had enough of the Games Workshop elf shields to use them on this unit. I don't know why the set I got came with so many shields but I really like them.

I used my dad's red tufts again. I love how these pop on the table. I also painted the cloaks in different colors.

Close up of the shield These are fun to paint and I'm getting happier with them as I go.

That's all for this week.

10 x 28mm Elves x 5 pts = 50 pts

6 x 32mm Legion x 7 pts = 42

Total = 92 pts

Wonderful work here once again Rhys. I like that you kept the elves bases similar, and it make the unit cohesion so much better. I also realllly love how that bronze shield came out. Great highlighting, and shading there. Looks a bit weathered and aged, which is not surprising considering how long elves live!

Great job, and a massive 92 pts for you today!
Kyle

From AaronH: Star Wars Legion (294 points)

There was no entry last week because Rhys and I were off to play in a Star Wars Legion skirmish tournament on plains east of Denver. We had fun but do not really like that format. We really went to support the locals as they are trying to get a Legion group going out there.

This week's entry will be a bit larger than usual as a result. First off is Clan Wren for the rebels. 

Clan Wren. All three of them.

Rebel Mandos are not a great unit. Clan Wren is a bit better, two wounds each and some slightly elevated rules, but they just can't punch in the same weight class as the Shadow Collective Mandos.

They are devilishly fast and get a little bit better if Sabine Wren is on the table as a hero.

Action shot.

I have two more units on the table. I'm not sure they'll be done before the end of the Challenge though.

Next up are two CIS repair droids. These are an upgrade to B1s and are annoying since there's almost nothing worse than finally killing a multi-wound model and then having these guys pop it back up.

I tried to do the lens like it's reflecting the dark ground and the lighter sky.

These are small models, half the size of a B1. They tend to get lost in the crowd so I painted them green to help them stand out a bit.

They are holding B1 heads.

Today's third unit is a Super Tactical Droid, two T Series droids, two Viper recon droids and one heal-bot, which is just as annoying as the repair droids but for the few meat bags in the army.

Leaders and more unit upgrades

The T Series Tactical Droids can be a unit leader or a commander in the faction. They have the unit colors for two units, but I can pull them out as needed.

The rear view. Droids don't panic easily so not something their enemies see much of.

The Super Tactical Droid is a really good commander. There are two named droids and a generic but all three are worth taking. They support the army rather than doing the fighting themselves.

My skills aren't up to the intricate designs on these but I approximated them with gold paint.

Next up are more B1s. These bring me to six units, which is the most you can take outside of a special battle force. I'm done with these for now, though I may have some more upgrades to add in.

First up is dark green squad. I call them this because their unit markings are, dark green.

There are twelve B1s in this unit. I ran out of unit leaders with these two batches, though I have the B1s for the rank in file in the final two units that the battle force can take.

These guys are light green and there are only  eleven of them. The unit leader's arm was broken off and I just couldn't get it to stick, so now it's been shot off and is resting at his feet.

Arm shot off; still holding his blaster.

Really glad to see the back of these models and move on.

The last unit is two squads of B2s. I'll need to add one more model to each of these since my son is running them at five droids.

B2s are not much better than B1s. They definitely need a little love from the devs in the next update to the game. Still, I have two units so I might as well get them painted.

I need to paint eight more models and my younger son can show up for his first game at the game store next week with a fully painted army. 

Points wise this is a pretty big entry.

3 x 32mm Clan Wren x 7pts = 21 pts

2 x 32mm PK Droids x 7 pts = 14 pts

6 x 32mm Commanders and add-ons x 7 pts = 42 pts

23 x 32mm B1s x 7 pts = 161 pts

8 x 32mm B2s x 7 pts = 56 pts 

Total = 294 pts

Wow Aaron this points bomb should get the gang fired up for Star Wars: Legion! Great production here, I particularly like the Clan Wren group, they look really nice.

A 294-point tally for you!

Dallas